Greetings, mortal! Now that you have a firm grasp on the fundamentals of Gods Unchained, it’s time for some divine insight on the most exciting part of card games: creating your very own deck. From navigating the menus to choosing the right cards for the best possible impact, here is all the wisdom you will need to craft your first original creations, which may one day help you to find the ultimate meta-breaking combo to propel yourself to the top of the rankings.

The Act of Creation – Making Your Own Deck

You can use every trick in the book – meaning every single card in your collection – to put together a brand new creation with which to crush the opposition on the ladder! Here’s how to do so:

• Click on the ‘Workshop’ button on the bar on the top of your screen
• You can see all your existing decks here, including the Starter decks. Click on Create a Deck!
• Choose a God. You will have access to different cards based on your choice.
• Navigate the top section of the screen featuring your collection by using the filters in the top left corner. Click on the cards you want to include in your deck, which will then appear on the bottom of the screen. If you want to remove a card, click on your Custom Deck to open a new panel which lists every added spell and creature so far. Click on the card to remove it from your deck.
• Click ‘Edit Deck’ to give your deck a unique name!
• Click ‘Save Deck’ to finalize your new creation.

You will be able to select it both in Solo and Constructed play going forward.

Now you can throw in any thirty cards of your choice. As to which ones to throw in, we’ve got a few additional pointers for you…

The Art of War – Deckbuilding Basics in Gods Unchained

Though every deck with a different list will play differently in the game, there is something inevitable about the time and wisdom passed down to us by eternities of card game players, forming fundamentals which reflect the basic approach of your strategy no matter the title or the specific cards you’ve selected. Understanding the basis deck archetypes will help you go a long way in figuring out your strategies and how to optimize your own deck creations to find the sweet spot in the metagame and gain the edge you’re looking for!

Acts of aggression

Aggro decks aim to leverage a consistent early game by swarming the board with cheap creatures and then dealing as much damage as possible before the opponent can rally their big and nasty responses, eventually finishing off the game with burn spells from hand if they completely lose the board. Decks like these require generalist critters rather than expensive specialists: no fancy midgame spell will make up for skipping the first two turns without getting anything on the board. For this reason, aggro decks generally have a lot of cheap creatures and a low mana curve (meaning most of their cards fall in the 1-3 mana category).

You should keep asking the following questions during a match: Can I get away with not trading here? and How many more turns do I have to win the game?

Controlling crowds

Control decks are on the other end of the spectrum, aiming to starve their opponent of resources on the way to the late game where they play massive and devastating creatures to quickly close out the matter for good. Though they lack the small and mid-sized threats on the way there, they have copious amounts or removal and board clear (also known as area of effect or AoE) spells to accomplish their goal. If the gameplan goes right, you remove annoying threat after annoying threat after annoying threat, throw down your big boys and smile as your opponent quickly concedes the game at the sight of your might. Though the spells themselves could be quite cheap, control decks tend to have a higher mana curve, so don’t be surprised by a bunch of 6+ cost creatures bunched alongside one another in a finalized list!

You should keep asking the following questions during a match: Will I stay alive if I don’t remove this threat immediately? and Do I have more resources than my opponent for the long game?

The middle of the road

Midrange decks are an odd amalgamation, shifting their playstyle depending on the type of opposition they face. This archetype isn’t fast enough to rush you down but also doesn’t quite have the juice to go toe-to-toe with a control deck in a long game. So what is it that you’re trying to do exactly? Well, your goal is to out-control a totally aggressive deck and play the beatdown role against a slower opponent. A deck like this can be a great tool in your arsenal but it certainly requires a good understanding of the kind of opposition you’re going up against, which makes it a challenging strategy to pull off as a newcomer. As a rule of thumb, midrange decks tend to cap off at 4-5 mana with the occasional mega card thrown in.

You should keep asking the following questions during a match: Who’s the beatdown (the faster deck) this game? and Can I win the long game against this particular opponent?

Combination play

Last but certainly not least, combo decks are built around a devastating finisher play using multiple specific cards cast in quick succession which immediately win the game for you, ones you carefully assemble and collect during the course of the match. Just consider the possibilities provided by Avatar of Magic and you will get a good idea of the incredible things a good combo deck can pull off in a single turn – sometimes even killing your opponent from full health! As such, combo decks are full of card draw and whatever removal or healing tools they can fit in alongside their finisher. If you’re going up against a control deck, you’re good to go: they can’t pressure you enough to deny you the time required to assemble the pieces. It’s the faster decks you will have a harder time with, trying to stay alive long enough to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat. Combo decks can have a very different mana curve depending on the options available to the God of your choice.

You should keep asking the following questions during a match: Which other cards do I need to pull off my combo? and How quickly can I draw the rest of my deck to find them?